A brilliant corner routine, which saw Walters peel off from his marker and dash to the middle of the area before lashing home a pin-point corner from Glenn Whelan, handed Stoke the lead.

It was a stunning move, praised by West Ham boss Sam Allardyce, but Charlie Adam allowed Walters space by obstructing George McCartney. The offence was not spotted by the officials but Potters boss Pulis has put his hands up to acknowledge a foul took place.

"I'm not supposed to say this but we blocked, we obstructed a player," Pulis told Sky Sports. "I'm not supposed to be that honest and say that."

Pulis has admitted the goal was down to hard work on the training ground. He said: "We worked on it for two or three days in training and we never scored a goal. But luckily tonight it went for us.

After enduring a tricky start to his Manchester United career, perhaps it is fair that Marcos Rojo celebrated so boisterously as he watched his first professional club Estudiantes beat fierce rivals Gimnasia